The Power Meter Handbook: A User’s Guide for Cyclists and Triathletes

Table 4.1 ). For a criterium, I shorten that to 10 seconds in zone 7 as there are likely to be many more short surges that take their cumulative toll on a rider.The software will find these for you. What you want to know from this search is how many matches you burned, how long they lasted on average, the duration of the longest one, how great their average power was, and what the greatest power was. Armed with this information, you are now able to create workouts that mimic the demands of the race to help you prepare to burn more matches, longer matches, or bigger matches. You will also get a much better sense of how your races are paced, allowing you to be prepared not only physically but also mentally.

HOW TO SET UP WKO+ FOR MATCHES
    You can find your matches burned in a race or workout using the WKO+ software feature called “Fast Find.” (This feature is found only on WKO+ software.) Here’s how to do it.
    STEP 1. Open the race graph, and under EDIT in the upper menu select FAST FIND. A pop-up window will appear.
    STEP 2. Select the RANGE OF INTEREST you want to check for matches. This could be the entire graph (the whole race) or a selected portion of it.
    STEP 3. Set LEADING EDGE by inserting the minimum size of your match in the space labeled “equal to or more than.”
    STEP 4. For TRAILING EDGE, LESS THAN insert the same number as in step 3.
    STEP 5. Set MINIMUM DURATION to the amount of time that defines your match.
    STEP 6. Set MAXIMUM DURATION to the longest time you might burn a match. This can be quite long, as in several minutes.
    STEP 7. Click on FIND, and bars will appear on your graph for every match that fits your settings. They will also appear as a list of FINDS in the column to the right of the chart. Figure 5.5 shows what this looks like. Here you can also see power, heart rate, and terrain.

Matches and Steady-State Races
    It’s also possible to burn matches in a time trial or triathlon, but the definition of a match is much more flexible for this type of racing. Although I usually define a match in a variably paced race as being power zone 7, going that intensely in a long, steady race is likely to cause extreme fatigue owing to the glycogen expense and the resulting acidosis. In variably paced races, there are opportunities to recover between surges, but there are no such opportunities in time trials and triathlons. You’re riding at your limit for the entire race. Zone 7 surges are likely to result in a “DNF” (did not finish).
    In such races, matches are generally needed only on hills and are defined by the duration of the event. The guideline I use is that whenever a time trialist or triathlete exceeds his or her goal power by two or more zones for a certain length of time, a match is being burned. I’ll explain. In doing a 40-km race, the rider is likely to be in zone 4 most of the time, so a match would be a brief excursion into zone 6 or higher. A triathlete doing an Ironman in zone 2 would identify a match as zone 4 or higher. The length of the match is a bit harder to define. It’s possible to stay in zone 4 for a much longer time than in zone 6.

    Table 5.3 proposes a way of defining the length of a match based on zones and how much time might be accumulated in matches for each given goal zone. Table 4.1 can help you decide what “Race Goal Zone” is appropriate for your race type. The column “Recommended Cumulative Match Duration for Race” is only a suggestion. You may well find that you can manage more cumulative match time, or less, when you race in a given power zone. Unfortunately, experience is the only way to determine this. If in doubt, be conservative with how much match time you accumulate in a race.
     
    AS EXPLAINED EARLIER, if you are an experienced rider, intensity is the key to your race performance. Now, armed with such tools as Intensity Factor, peak power profiling, Variability Index, and the concept of matches, you can expand on what you learned in Chapter 4 about training to race. You’re now ready for some serious training!

7
Using Your Power Meter for High Performance
    THIS CHAPTER IS FOR THE ADVANCED ATHLETE or coach who is focused on two or three A-priority races in a season with the intent of producing a peak performance in each. Here we will be looking at a way to manage preparation for high performance that is on the cutting edge of training science. It’s deep stuff.
    If you are new to training and racing, this chapter may be well